I had the most wonderful session with Bailey today. I had the first five minutes of the arena to myself so we did some liberty stick to me, yoyo game and a small "almost" figure eight.

Also our draw was wonderful. She came right to me from about ten feet away. Our send could use some work though.

Then two other riders came in and we agreed to set up some poles and markers to play with. Bailey was cautious but curious and soon started to nose at the blocks and poles. For some reason she started nibbling on the poles and licking at the textured bumps on the side of those blocks. I am not sure why she tried to do that.

Next I stood on one of the blocks and rubbed Bailey's back. She nosed me up and down and then lowered her head. She looked like she went a little introverted for a few moments but then she licked and chewed a lot.

We walked over the poles and attempted to trot over them. Bailey was willing to follow me at the walk and trot over the poles but hesitated when I sent her herself. I stood the blocks on their side and let Bailey explore them. We spent lots of time just standing together in the arena letting Bailey explore the toys at her own time.

The next thing I asked Bailey to do is to back over two poles in a row. She was a little bit nervous but she kept her cool and backed over them anyway. After she stepped over the last one I let her have a moment then I took her away from the poles. I just stood there with her for what felt like a few minutes. Bailey gave the biggest yawn ever and then three more yawns, followed by a lick and chew. I felt this was the perfect time to quit and to give Bailey her baby carrots.

I took her down to her stall, put her blanket on, braided her tail and finally gave her the baby carrots. I asked her to wait nicely while I was dumping the treats in the bin. I am so happy that Bailey was trusting so much so soon that she even yawned in front of me. My thoughts about liberty at the beginning of the session: I think Bailey does liberty at the beginning of the session so nicely because I spend so much quality time with her, such as grooming, massage and just being in the stall with her.

Another reason might be that she loves to be the follower and she forms a connection the moment I offer one to her.

Over all this was probably the best session I ever had with her so far.